Final answer:
Union shops require employees to join the union or pay dues, promoting collective bargaining but possibly infringing on individual freedom. They have led to improved working conditions but can raise product costs and potentially hurt competitiveness. Legislation has intervened to protect workers, address economic issues like fair wages and deal with the declining trend in union membership.
Step-by-step explanation:
Assessing union shops from the moral point of view involves weighing the conflicting rights and ideals of freedom of association, workers' rights, and employers' rights. Union shops, where all employees must join the union or pay dues, can ensure solidarity and collective bargaining power for workers, resulting in benefits like better pay and working conditions. However, they can also be criticized for infringing on workers' freedom to choose whether to join a union and potentially leading to higher product costs and reduced competitiveness.
Some of the positive consequences of permitting union shops include strengthened collective bargaining, as well as improved wages, benefits, and working conditions for employees. On the flip side, critics argue that union shops can lead to higher labor costs for employers, potentially reducing their competitiveness and the overall number of available jobs. Moreover, the requirement to join a union could be seen as a form of coercion, compromising an individual’s freedom not to associate.
Government intervention in the form of legislation addressing wages and discrimination was born out of the necessity to protect workers and ensure fair treatment, as unions sometimes cannot cover all aspects of worker protection. Unions have been criticized for becoming victims of their own success when they secure rights and wages to a point where they may inadvertently hurt the economy by diminishing competitiveness or impeding technological progress.
Economic Issues and Government Role
Some of the most important economic issues for the government to deal with include managing fair wages, controlling inflation, ensuring employment opportunities, and dealing with income inequality. The long-term trend in American union membership has been one of decline, which raises questions about the most effective ways for governments and societies to balance the needs of workers, employers, and the economy.